Space, the final frontier

Today I was sent this photo by Camelot Fabrics, of NASA Rocket Scientists holding a stuffed rocket made from my fabric in my Outer Space collection. Cool!

Then I immediately thought of all the artistic liberties I took while drawing the space related items, and how wrong it must look to them. Heh.

So Completely Amazing!

For the better part of a year I have been working on, and have had the lucky fortune to be a part of, the launch of Kleinfeld Paper. Yes, KLEINFELD.... as in "Say Yes to the Dress", aka the world famous bridal boutique! The number one name in bridal has decided to produce their own line of wedding stationery, and I am one of the artists involved.

Not only do I create designs for Kleinfeld, but I also work behind-the-scenes, as this all came about in collaboration with LookLoveSend, so I wear my Art Director hat for not only LLS, but Kleinfeld Paper as well. What does this mean exactly? Well a lot of things - besides creating my own designs and trying to grow my own business (the Vita Mechachonis brand), for LLS and KP I also deal with our artists, approve designs, do all of their graphic design, a million other things, and most visibly - designed their website. It's a big team effort, getting a huge business off the ground, and I am so proud and excited to be able to talk about it and show everyone what we're all about. And I've learned so much in this process, about web and printing, letterpress, raised ink, SEO and more. My head is spinning, and I am working all the time.

Though the official launch of Kleinfeld Paper isn't until January, we've started early, and are currently offering an exceptional collection of wedding stationery, and also for the holiday season, an exclusive line of holiday cards. To celebrate, now until the end of the year, everything sitewide is 20% off. So if you haven't purchased your holiday cards yet, please check us out! Click here.

A selection of my holiday card designs on Kleinfeld Paper

My wedding collection Happiness & Joy on KP

Amity on Kleinfeld Paper

Love Birds on Kleinfeld Paper

Two Hearts on Kleinfeld Paper

And here's a few of my holiday cards on LookLoveSend. They are also running a discount at this time. Get 15% off your holiday cards with promo code HOLIDAYSTYLE15

There is so much more to see on both of these websites - go and check them out!

Happy shopping! 

Puzzle Time!

I received this week a package containing a puzzle I created for MEGA Brands earlier this year, Pet Shop. Its a hidden-items puzzle, meaning that some parts of the puzzle can only be viewed with a special red-film viewing device, and is for kids ages 5+. I'm really pleased with how it came out, and I had such a great time with this project. Pet Shop will be in stores in a few weeks.

I just finished up a second hidden-items puzzle with MEGA Brands last week, and when I get the green-light, I'll blog about that one too.

Lookie what came in the mail

Last week I got a HUGE package in the mail from Camelot Cottons, weighing 54 lbs, of fabric samples of my art - YAY! Here are a few pics.

 Come on guys! How about splitting it into TWO boxes? :)

 Everything unpacked.

 Some of the fleece. I love love the penguins eating ice cream cones.

 Sam wanted in on the photo shoot. Here he is with Diva Silhouettes in flannel.

 Whales! All in flannel.

Jolly Christmas in cotton - available now here!

Art for Babies and more

The past month has found me doing a lot of show follow-up, catching some nibbles, and working on moving things forward. I've been doing a couple new assignments, working as always for LookLoveSend, and trying to find time to enjoy summer as well.

I just finished a new baby collection for licensing, Mama & Me. Fun, sweet animals. I hope it goes over well!

Surtex 2012 recap

Surtex is over and I am back home, just picked up Sam the dog, and am daunted by all the unpacking I have to do, and cleaning, and grocery shopping, and laundry. The show was Sunday to Tuesday, and it was 3 days of excitement, stress, nervousness, fun, and wow! Ooooh boy I have work to do now - all of the follow-up! I met some great new potential clients, caught up with current clients - some of whom I was meeting for the first time in person (shout out to the Eugene Textiles crew!), visited with fantastic artist friends in other booths, met wonderful new artist friends, and spent some time with my college friends in the city. All in all, pretty good!
As I've mentioned before, this was my 6th year exhibiting at Surtex, but the first one in my own booth, representing myself. It was a great experience and I'm definitely going back next year. I made some mistakes, nothing too bad - next year I'll get a few less postcards printed, and order my banners a couple inches shorter, and I think I'd like to have someone to help me in my booth so I can leave it without worrying and check out the Stationery Show and something to eat - but all in all the show went off without a hitch. I'm a very happy girl.

before and...

...after!

Quilts

My friend Mercedes made the most amazing quilts for me, using my fabric designs, to display at Surtex. They are small - maybe crib sized - and are lovely. I couldn't be more impressed. This is it, now I need to start quilting.